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…..sh*t on the bike.
I’ve been riding for over 35 years now.
I’ve largely really enjoyed it during that time but recently I’m finding my enjoyment waning. I’m also dangerously close to falling into the “all the gear, no idea” category.
I think part of that is I’m now more time limited and so will only head out for a couple of hours but also part of it is down to inconsistency. I can comfortably ride for hours one day but be totally knackered doing the same ride another time.
I’m not sure my Garmin helps either.
I went for a road ride with a friend yesterday*, ~75k, and whilst the company was great my average speed and general brokenness at the end was pretty discouraging. Had I been bashing out a 25km/h average then okay but that wasn’t the case.
Any tips to readjusting the balance?
Any home brew puss pep up powder recipes, ones that don’t taste like fish chowder are appreciated.
Do I just ditch the Garmin, jump on the fixie and just ride?
*Also why are groups of road riders such a$$holes - looking at you club cyclists - is it too much to say hello, throw up a thumb or tip a helmet.
Who are you comparing yourself to? Take a non-rider out for a ride and you'll realise how efficient and skilful you are compared to the average human.
Are you comparing yourself to people who can dedicate much more time to riding? They are going to be 'better' than you, but are they having more fun?
Are you comparing yourself to people who take much more risks than you? They are going to be 'faster' than you, but would you want to be that fast and take those risks? Maybe not.
If you're worried about having all the gear and no idea, go to a fun enduro or something like that and see people with 4000 quid bikes and full kit scratch down blue runs with both brakes on.
In short, don't worry about it!
I've not ridden much for the past few years, but my son is really getting back into it now so we've been trying to get out a fair bit recently.
Now I'm overweight, really unfit, generally in pain most of the time....He's 15, fit as a fiddle, weighs half what I do. But he's really putting me in my place now*! This is great, I love that fact that he's progressing and will hopefully be better than I ever was, but christ I'm shit now on a bike!! Hopefully I'll get better as I do more again and lose some weight/get fitter, but I don't think I'll ever be as good as I used to be. I just don't have the confidence any more.
*he loves the more sculptured jumpy sort of trails, I'm still a bit better at rocky, rooty more natural stuf, but it won't be long, once he gets his head round it I'll have to let him go first on those trails as well!!
Edit: I'm still having fun so it's all good. I'll just stick to filming him riding and not bother with any vids of my slow fat ass!...
@hightensionline … company aside I don’t think I did.
@the-muffin-man - I think that would be useful but I also use it for directions 🤨
Sometimes i ride with teenagers and think i'm completely incompetent.
Then i ride with grown ups and realise i'm not too bad
I'm old, fat, ridiculously slow and possess the balance and riding finesse of a three-legged giraffe on a skateboard
I don't care. I just like getting out on my bike
Having said that, I've jacked in group ride's as I'm too conscious of everyone waiting for me at the top of all the climbs, but I've got mates who are still happy to ride at my (very slow) pace and pull me out of any ditches I've ended up down. I stopped all the Strava and wotnot ages ago. I don't need to be reminded how slow I am so whats the point?
@meikle_partans … honestly there is probably a fair amount of comparison going on that isn’t helping.
…..sh*t on the bike.
Who are you comparing yourself to, and more importantly, why? I'm better than some, OK against others and look like I must have never ridden a bike before against some people I've spent time with. But honestly; no one cares, and the ones that do care, and do measure themselves against some other persons ability.. you probs need to limit your personal exposure to
If it's personal milestones, then that's different and be a bit more Yoda about it. It's on you to either not give a shit and just carry one riding the way you are, accepting that the invite to Rampage just isn't going to drop through your letterbox, or, if it really bothers you, do something about it.
After years of hardly doing any MTB at all (I pretty much just ride road and gravel these days), I bought a new MTB a couple of weeks ago.
Completely new to me to ride with modern geometry, 29" wheels, dropper post, 1x, tubeless (OK, I've used it on gravel and road bikes, never MTB).
My previous MTB was ancient and had things like triple chainset and no dropper and 26" wheels with "they were big for the time, OK?!" 2.2" tyres...
I kind of got back into the swing of it on some basic flowy trails but I was very conscious of how shit I was compared to the standard I used to be!
It was fun though. 🙂
Sounds like you're mainly frustrated by your lack of fitness?
How many hours a week would you say you're riding now?
Is it feasible to fit more in?
Maybe make a point of going hard up the hills?
If not, can you do a bit of running to work on your cardio?
i dont give a flying fish about being a lot shyte on my bike.
i ride my bike purely and simply because i love it. dont care about speed,or fitness.
dont care about other rides not saying hello, dont care about the weather.
if a government health warning was issued saying that cycling was bad for your health.... i would still ride my bike..... simply because i love it.
just get on with it mate......... stop fretting about shyte.
I kind of got back into the swing of it on some basic flowy trails but I was very conscious of how shit I was compared to the standard I used to be!
It was fun though.
Awesome. And you can have fun, while also enjoying that rewarding feeling of making big gainz (in terms of tech skills I assume).
@chakaping ….. the irony(?) in all of this is I’ve been regularly running since January with a group so my running cardio is pretty good but it does not translate to the bike for me. I’ve also parked heavy weights to maximise time running and riding and minimising doms.
On the hills front I do like climbing but that’s caveated with I do live in Suffolk. Yesterdays ride had a total of 2,400ft of total ascent!
but it does not translate to the bike for me.
I don't think it does for most folks, unless you're coming from a start point of absolutely zero fitness and anything you do will make things less 'deathy'
while also enjoying that rewarding feeling of making big gainz
There's a feature I ride that's an awkward drop off and step down combo on a steepish off camber bank that needs a bit of 'go' and timing to do well, I fluff it most times, but a while back I was giving myself a virtual pat on the back for my style when a 13-14? year old came though and casually cleared the lot with a well timed jump...ah well. Still gave myself maximum points for clearing it though.
honestly there is probably a fair amount of comparison going on that isn’t helping.
"Comparison is the thief of joy" - Ray Cumming (probably).
I've always been slow, without skill or anything I show be on an Mtb, however riding a bike (any bike) is just the best thing.
Do it for the love.
the irony(?) in all of this is I’ve been regularly running since January with a group so my running cardio is pretty good but it does not translate to the bike for me.
Running actively hindered my cycling ability.
I tried to get back into running one winter but at the time I was doing a lot of track cycling. My velodrome fitness was ruined, no idea why. It took 2 weeks after stopping running completely to get back to where I had been.
As @ton says above, I've long ago stopped caring what other people are riding or wearing or whether or not they wave. I realised fairly quickly as well that, outside of racing, comparing yourself to others is futile.
Also, the older I get, the better I was... 😉
"I went for a road ride"
This is the problem, try mountain biking, it's much more fun😉
Accepting you're shit is part of life's natural progression. Once you've done that, you can take pleasure in small wins, and just enjoying the ride, rather than trying to recapture the numbers/achievements/bravery of your younger days.
Roadies are of course miserable because they have not yet achieved this Zen-state. 🙂
I've got this issue just now - head is in full over-thinking and over-analysing and I'm thinking myself out of riding stuff. Utterly frustrating and embarrassing (I coach kids and fortunately none of them ask me to ride the stuff they are coached on, but there are a few things I'd be very wary of due to this over-thinking).
I think it has grown worse as I'm now trying to reteach myself riding with today's techniques (which aren't anything new, but no-one told me about them as I was growing up and biking, so I've a lot of really bad habits that I'm also trying to break).
I'm still loving riding my bike, but whilst on the bike ride there are plenty of moments of frustration as I'm not riding stuff. Very annoying and I moan a lot about it - but I've not worked out yet what I can do to reduce the over-thinking/analysing and start doing more.
Actually I'm saying that, I also need to sort my fuelling out as I have some rides where I've plenty of energy and feel great and others where I feel absolutely dead within 5 minutes of starting and can't seem to get myself out of that feeling.
TLDR - you aren't alone with these thoughts and I'm sure it can be sorted...but I don't know how to sort it yet.
Any tips to readjusting the balance?
I might usually say something about polarised riding being good for getting a bit fitter or better-conditioned generally w/o riding being all about data analytics. Get some basic levels to work to and bias your riding to be 80% easy rides / 20% hard rides, only mixing the two a small % of the time.
But I went to a Speakers From The Edge talk by Martyn Ashton last week, recommended. As well as him just being a great guy and a good speaker and a trip down memory lane for many of us there, it really put things in perspective. There was me moaning that I have an annoying injury that won't go away and it's slowing me down. Ton's right. Ride for the grins.
.
Don't call it a "fixie". Ride your fixed wheel road bike around the mighty cols of Suffolk (well into the wind anyway, aka Belgian Hills). See fitness improve in leaps and bounds because you can't change gear. Enjoy cycling more. Simples. And I'm a club rider and coach and I wave all the time 🙂 That increased fitness makes MTB more enjoyable too.
You want a gear ratio of 42x15 or 76" for nice rolling roads. I ride bigger for medium-fast club rides, but eventually everyone ends up on 76".
Welcome to the club. 75k is a long ride, even on the road. I make sure I eat and drink regularly during a ride like that but I'll still be wasted. As long as I enjoyed it it's a win though and I will be a bit better next time
Do I just ditch the Garmin, jump on the fixie and just ride?
Yes, I love riding and I just ride a fixed gear and always enjoy it all year around. I log my rides as I have Strava running on phone in back pocket but I found that whenever I fancy a change from fixed gear and get a road bike for a few months I fall into wanting to see my data as I am riding and try to go faster and lose a bit of the just riding thing.
On fixed I just go fast up hills and see how I did when I get home if I felt particularly fast that day.
And as above, it is not a "fixie"
the irony(?) in all of this is I’ve been regularly running since January with a group so my running cardio is pretty good but it does not translate to the bike for me.
Haha, well I find running just helps keep my cardio ticking over fairly well. But I do avoid riding the day after doing legs at the gym.
Do you feel you're below where you used to be, fitness wise?
Following multiple major health issues I've just gone back to basics.
I'm here for a fun time, not a fast time.
If i'm smiling at the end of a ride then it's a good ride. If it's not then then screw it. Different bikes on different terrains keep it entertaining.
Throw away the Garmin/strava/GPS and just go out for some short fun rides. I found that the more I measured my riding (apart from the jumping stick game) the less fun I had, so I ditched the lot.
And start exercising more. I do about 30-60 minutes of CrossFit/Functional fitness 3-5 times a wee and my fitness levels improved dramatically. And it’s easier to fit in an intensive 30 minute home workout than a ride somewhere.
I did the same 78km road ride yesterday as I did a couple of weeks ago, same riding buddy. Yesterday I got my fuelling wrong and felt rough for the first half. About an hour in, once I'd sunk one of my bottles and a snickers, I was OK. Reviewing stats afterwards (I know....), the overall pace was not far off the previous ride, not that we were targeting anything - the experience was very different due to feeling out of sorts for a good chunk, particularly the draggy relatively gentle climbs out of South London to the North Downs - Garmin labelled it a 'Tempo' ride, which describes most of my weekend long rides. Rode 20km to work this morning on the commuter at recovery pace (zone 1-2) and felt horrible, which I can partly blame on the bike...
The week before I did a 60km off road ride, felt great but destroyed my legs hammering up short steep technical sections of climbs...
At 52, I'm still fairly new to bigger distances on and off road so still working out how to manage stuff like sleep, recovery, diet, fuelling etc.. without taking it too seriously, I have worked out it makes a massive difference to how I feel on the day.
We're all a bit shit compared to some other riders, but we don't ride for them do we?
I ride for smiles and **** all else.
As for the gear, meh.
Look good, feel good. Feel good, ride good.
Could be worse, you could have no hobbies, or thing and be one of those eternally dull individuals who just watches reality TV and stews in their own juices.
Keep doing you and enjoy whatever time you get to ride and for how long or far.
usual question: how much did you eat/drink? 75k hilly road ride is at least a litre of water and two bananas for me, and I’m probably under fuelling a bit. Cardio should translate, but cardio still needs a full tank.
Anyhow, I’m not going to say drop tracking, but I am going to say “did you and your mate have a good time”, because that is all that matters. Everyone has good/bad days, doubly so in the first cold rides of autumn/winter when cold damp air on your lungs is no fun at all.
As for unfriendly club riders: frowny face, I greet or wave to anyone I pass, and doubly so in club kit, what’s the point if you’re not going to be friendly. You’re not going to lose a KoM to one “good morning”. Sorry they were grumpy ones.
MORE IMPORTANTLY: you’re not shit on a bike, I know this because I’m shit on a bike, losing puff on road climbs, skittering down bridleways with my brakes on and walking stuff a ten year old could ride. Fortunately, it’s almost always fun, and I’m better than I was yesterday, most days. That’ll do.
Throw away the Garmin/strava/GPS and just go out for some short fun rides. I found that the more I measured my riding (apart from the jumping stick game) the less fun I had, so I ditched the lot.
I track all my activities and still have fun. It's a mindset thing.
No offence OP but how has it taken 35 years to realise you're a bit shit on a bike?
I'd say that around 95% on people who post on here are. Myself included.
Anyone that's really good won't be wasting time on here.
Unless you're trying to earn a living from it it doesn't matter.
As long as you get some pleasure from it keep at it. If you no longer enjoy riding just do something else instead.
One thing I've always found, is, if you can, commute on the bike. It quickly builds base fitness that makes the 'fun' stuff better. Been a roadie most of my life, but always had a MTB - we uses to piss about on them in the early 90's as an alternative to a club run in the winter.
Things changed 8 years ago when I got my spine broken by a motorist. I was back on a bike, the MTB within 4 months, but it was FIVE years before I got back on the road bike. I mix it up now. Love having epic days on the MTB, end of July we spent 16 hours riding over two days off road on the Pennine Bridleway. I've more recently got a CX bike which means I can avoid some of the crap roads near home and escape the area on tracks, before mixing it up again. Little and often is the key to keeping your fitness.
I mix my riding up a lot now, MTB, road, Commute (mainly off road) and CX/gravel fun. PS I'm wheels down on the MTB, propper rubbish.
Commuting for fitness +1
Not looking at the stats every ride +1 (if that's what makes you unhappy)
Cycling is like any fitness activity, it rewards consistency. You won't lift stuff like Eddie Hall if you go the gym once a week and go to a different gym once a year somewhere sunny for a whole week. Cycling isn't any different.
So you need to recognize which of three categories you fall into:
A) Doesn't ride much, won't ride much
B) Rides a lot, but not for fun (i.e. commuting)
C) Rides a lot, out of choice and puts effort into it.
You'll only not enjoy it if you want to be one, but your the other. If you're A with aspirations of being good on a bike, but don't want to put in B/C levels of effort it'll always be miserable (sounds like the OP). If your B but want a car and to be an A, you'll be miserable. If you're C but don't love cycling for the sake of it, you'll be miserable.
If riding bikes makes you happy, but looking at the garmin doesn't, then ditch the garmin!
I've had 2 crap years in a row, either to busy with work, or working away, or just plain old bad weather, and my commute has dropped to 3 miles so isn't any benefit. Just invested in a proper space to have a gym at home so looking forward to a more structured winter. And work should quieten down so lunchtimes are back as a riding option. But I don't look at the lunchtime stats, it's just 60-80minutes of enjoying being out on the bike. And if I get out on a club run then speed is fairly meaningless, it'll be the average speed of the group as advertised, could be an easy day sat in the group, or a hard day on the front.
Like many others here, I too am a bit shit on the bike. For various reasons I have not ridden proper off road for ages but managed to get out on my MTB today and had to face the fact I have got even shitter! However I still really enjoyed the ride and won't let my ineptness put me off getting out as often as I can. I may have to be less ambitious in my route choice but all time on the bike is a plus especially at my age when waking up at all is a plus
Thanks folks.
@singlespeedstu 😅 I ride more now than I ever have done with other people. That’s both helping and hindering.
@infovore pain au raisain and cup of tea at roughly halfway, 800ml of fluid on top.
@chakaping I’m the fittest I’ve been in years with “things” generally improving.
Correction of the “fixie” vernacular noted. It’s definitely a fixed gear and a boringly sensible one with brakes (running 42x15).
I think your first mistake is riding a road bike. I've nothing against those that do but it all seems to revolve around average speeds, ratios too big to pedal (presume this is a road pro fan thing) and having the lightest/latest kit. And if you are having a bad day that just gets amplified. Plus how flipping boring is it that instead of looking over the hedge at the view you end up looking at the arse of the rider in front and stressing about doing a turn on the front.
The best thing to do is ditch the Garmin/Strava or turn it onto battery saving mode so the screen goes blank so you have no idea how far you've gone or how fast.
Gravel bikes are great for exploring bridleways and not to shabby on the boring tarmac bits so ideal for just "going for a ride" the MTB is ok but you'll hate the road bits.
Just head in a general direction and take any off road bit you fancy, especially if you've never ridden down it before. Yes, some if these will be overgrown nightmares but a few will be gems.
This approach means something new or a mini adventure every ride and you'll soon become addicted. The average speed means nothing but finding out what's behind the next gate will.
So in short (if you don't have one) new bike!
But really just get out with no agenda and see where the front wheel takes you.
Limited for time, try one of your usual routes but the opposite direction to normal, a grav/MTB will handle urban stuff too so steps, back entryways and parks can become your playground too
In short, ride bike, tune out, ignore the "rules" and see what happens. I guarantee your enthusiasm will come back and with it fitness, but you'll be having too much fun to notice it
I even made a sticker for you
I am also sh1t on a bike. I blame, er, me. I'm really good at cleaning them though.
Embrace it! At my quickest maybe 15 years ago I merely reached mediocre. Now? Can still plod along for hours and use my bike to get places whilst not killing myself on mountain paths. Speed? negligible
Embrace the pootle or daunder. Its the new niche
Very recently I've been riding great new trails in a mediocre steady fashion. It truly rocks. Go ride somewhere new, or more interesting, and forget about the speed completely. Completely.
I think your first mistake is riding a road bike. I’ve nothing against those that do but it all seems to revolve around average speeds, ratios too big to pedal (presume this is a road pro fan thing) and having the lightest/latest kit.
Nah... All bikes are fun, just different kinds of fun. Groups of blokes can kill the fun of any kind of riding by getting all competitive and/or data about it but you don't have to ride with them do you.
My most fun road bike is old, steel and Italian and like any good road bike it's just a pleasure, a real flying sensation to ride. Corners at speed make me laugh sometimes. 'kin love it.
Totally with you on gravel bikes and being off-road but riding one kind of bike or terrain for me would be like listening to only one kind of music.
Very recently I’ve been riding great new trails in a mediocre steady fashion. It truly rocks. Go ride somewhere new, or more interesting, and forget about the speed completely. Completely.
+1. It took a winter doing Zone 2 training for me to realise that pootling on the road was really enjoyable.
..and to learn why previously I was passing so many roadies at that time of year, when road riding was mainly a winter MTB alternative thing for me. It wasn't that I was actually fast, they were just doing base miles.
I struggle on the road bike, even when I was riding pretty regularly I never got my average speed above about 15-16mph even on pretty flat and easy East Midlands terrain. Still enjoyed riding by myself though but felt shit when I went out with my mate who could easily average 20mph and was always waiting for me.
Also currently struggling a bit now I'm getting back into MTB as my riding isn't anywhere near the level I used to be. It's slowly coming back though and I'm feeling more confident over jumps again. I did have a couple of rides that made me wonder if I even liked riding MTB any more, but realised it was just that type of riding (anything pedally/techy/uphill basically!) I don't enjoy. So the key for me was just realising the bits I enjoy (ie DH/bikepark style riding) and cutting out the bits that I don't. To put it simply in my mind MTB = the fun bits and road/gravel = putting the miles in!
I decided a while back it just doesn't matter being shit. Yes, I have a bike that's far more capable than I am (in fact, several such bikes, for various reasons). When I had a worse bike, I was even more shit. I can afford it and I'm having fun, I'm not in it to win anything, so why should I be bothered by this state of affairs?
I'm old enough that significant injuries will take a long time to heal, so not really interested in pushing my limits on faster/jumpier sections. I'm happy to move aside when faster riders come through, and admire their skill and power. I can work as hard as I like up hill though.
I've lost 3 stone since Feb using Noom and now My fitness Pal, it makes one hell of a difference
Yesterday I rode at the Golfie with a mate who doesn't MTB much these days. He was slower than he used to be and I'm a much more capable rider than when we used to ride together regularly. We had a great day, he enjoyed pushing himself even though he had to walk one or two bits and I was happy riding a bit slower and just enjoying the Autumnal sun and warmth. We had a good chat about life and death but joked about how although it was good to chat we were there to ride bikes. A month or two ago I rode some fairly straightforward trails on a nice summers evening, I was all over the place but the next week riding much harder stuff I had a great ride. Sometimes shit happens but that doesn't make you a shit rider.